Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Low Back Injury in Employees of a Large Home Improvement Retail Company

摘要

Low back pain (LBP) is a very common health problem in industrialized countries. Lifetime prevalence of LBP exceeds 70%, with peak point prevalences between ages 35 and 55 (Jellema P et al, 2001). Low back injuries constitute a major cause of musculo skeletal injuries in the workplace (Felstein et al, 1993; Genaidy et al, 1995), and are recognized as the leading cause of morbidity and lost productivity in the work force today (Mitchell et al, 1994). A considerable number of people have permanent discomfort from LBP with chronic LBP being present in 3% to 7% of the population (Jellema P et al. 2001). The impact of low back injuries affects businesses, the workers and society in general. Some place the cost for back injury at 5 to 10 billion dollars per year (Kraus et al, 2002) . The etiology of low back injuries is complex. They are in part due to improper body mechanics (Felstein et al, 1993). There has been significant biomechanical research done studying how the musculoskeletal tissues of the lower back are affected by the parameters of job demands, such as postures required to perform a task and the forces exerted during manual materials handling tasks (Keyserling, 2000). Risk factors previously studied include heavy physical activity and various lifting activities (Frymoyer et al, 1983; Kelsey et al, 1988; Fuortes et al, 1994; Daltroy et al, 1991; Kraus et al, 1997; Gardner et al, 1999), history of prior ii%jury (Walsh et al, 1990; Daltroy et al, 1991; Mitchell et al, 1994), age (Daltroy et al, 1991), smoking (Kelsey et al, 1988; Frymoyer et al, 1983), work related stress (Myers et al, 1999; Fransen et al, 2002; Hoogendoorn et al, 2002; Johnston JM et al, 2003), BMI (Myers et al, 1999; Fransen et al, 2002), and gender (Kraus et al, 1997; Daltroy et al, 1991).